Three months ago my wife and I had our third child, Joseph. After he was born we made phone calls to our family – delighted to share the news. Having a weak phone signal in the hospital and not having the time to call every friend to personally share the news, I decided to post a simple update on my Facebook profile. In doing so, I was reminded of the power of social media to instantly reach large groups of people with very little effort.
Literally 3 minutes after updating my Facebook status to “Enjoying time with our new son, Joseph” I had 5 messages from friends congratulating us on our “new addition”. And when I uploaded our first pictures of Joseph to Facebook, I had 2 friends comment on the photos before the entire album had even finished uploading. I had received feedback from 2 friends faster than the time it would’ve taken to answer a phone call from just one of those friends. That’s the power and immediacy of social media.
So, how can your company use social media to deliver your message? And why will anyone care about the birth of your new product or service?
In the example above, what made this method of communication effective was the relationship I had with my audience prior to our “big announcement”. I was communicating with people that knew me and cared about what I had to say. My friends didn’t just find out that we were pregnant on the day I announced Joseph’s birth and I wasn’t speaking to complete strangers. In the 9 months before our son’s birth, there were several conversations related to our pregnancy. Our friends had followed and shared in our journey and were vested in the news we had shared.
The same applies to your brand, product or service. Don’t just reach out to your audience when making a “big announcement” and expect them to care or to take action. Develop an ongoing relationship with them. The more they know you (or feel like they know you), the more likely they are to care about what you have to say.
Create a dialogue and get to know your audience and their interests. Not only will this help you target your message, which will increase your response rate, but it will open the door for other opportunities to communicate with them. The key is that it has to be a genuine dialogue and not a one way conversation touting your products and services.
The power of social media comes from establishing relationships with your audience. Just like it took 9 months for our news to develop, it will take time to breathe life into your message before anyone cares enough to take action. Give them a reason to care by giving them a voice in the conversation. You don’t have to share the name, gender, height and weight of your announcement before it’s brought to life, but at least let them know how your wife is feeling along the way.
